Monday, January 31, 2011

A VALENTINE’S DAY CELEBRATION OF LOVE

  
By Karen Cino



Love can show up in some of the most peculiar places,
when you least expect it.

Sometimes it’s right there in front of you
with obstacles standing in its way.
That night, when you appeared in front of me
I knew what needed to be done.
It took many days to open up
be willing to take that chance, letting you into my life,
never realizing it would be life changing.

As our relationship grows, so do my feelings.
The walls I had up, start to slowly deteriorate.
Feelings I thought had died come back to life.
My passion ignites, my heart radiates.
Love takes over my life.

Some days love comes easy,
others you have to work hard at it.
Being with you is the easy part,
the part I love the best.
Since you’ve been a part of my life,
I have come alive, my life is full of love and happiness.

I never thought I’d fall in love again.
I thought my life was over and then came you.
We are good for each other
balancing our lives together as one.

You make me happy and I know you feel the same.
We’ve become best friends and lovers.
Even though we have differences,
we are loyal and dedicated to one another.

In the past I let loneliness take over my life
secluding me from the rest of the world.
Now I feel peace and love
and will do everything in my power to keep it intact.

No one can predict the future or know where things will go.
But having you by my side I know that love will always be a part of my life. ♥



Karen Cino is President of the RWA New York City Chapter. She keeps her muse alive by walking every morning down at the South Beach Boardwalk in Staten Island. Currently, she is shopping for a home for her novels, ROSES and MYSTICAL WONDERS and is working on her next novel.

Friday, January 28, 2011

FASHION: HIS & HERS ©

  
By Polly Guerin
Fashion Historian


In her book IT'S STILL SPINACH (1954), fashion designer Elizabeth Hawes noted that American women usually wore skirts, while men almost always wore trousers. This edit seems to reflect common belief that most people dress in ways that they consider to be appropriately “masculine” or “feminine.” However, perceptions of gender vary according to place, time and individual experience, and no clothing style or color is “naturally” linked to one gender or the other.

A GROUND BREAKING EXHIBIT
The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology presents HIS & HERS, a new exhibition that examines the relationship between gender and fashion. Side-by-by side comparisons of men’s and women’s clothing highlight the differences—and the similarities, through May 10 at the Museum at FIT, 27th Street and Seventh Avenue. Beginning with the 18th century and leading to the present the exhibit explores the so-called unisex and androgynous dress, as well as the developments in cross-gender appropriation. While skirts, for example, are generally regarded as “feminine” garments in Western culture, garments such as kilts and sarongs are common attire for men in other parts of the world, and in recent years, Western designers such as jean Paul Gaultier have created skirts for men.

THE OPULENT ERA
The exhibitions chronology begins with a brocaded silk court dress circa 1760 which is displayed alongside an elaborate embroidered velvet man’s suit from circa 1785. At that time, aristocratic dress for both men and women featured luxurious fabrics with lavish adornments that are today usually considered “feminine.” The opulence of the 18th-century menswear provides an interesting counterpoint to the generally staid men’s fashion of the 19th –century. During this period, day and eveningwear for men was typically dark and somber, while women’s dresses were brightly colored. However, men did wear exotic garments at home.

THE 20th CENTURY
Moving into the 20th –century, His & Her features a sporty, checked wool man’s suit from the 1920s paired with a checked silk day dress by Louiseboulanger. In the 1930s, women’s preferences for broad-shouldered suit actually preceded a similar trend in menswear. The “Peacock Revolution” of the 1960s, transformed menswear. Meanwhile, many women began wearing miniskirts, as well as trousers for day and evening. I remember being denied entrance to a posh restaurant in those days because I was wearing a pants suit.

THE POWER SUIT
By the 1980s, the growing presence of women in the workplace resulted in the creation of women’s “power suits.” A typical example is Yves Saint Laurent’s version with “feminine” details, such as a soft bow tie and playful animal print, alongside a man’s power suit by Alan Flusser.

ALTHOUGH MANY CONTEMPORARY DESIGNERS CONTINUE TO SUBVERT GENDER CODES IN VARIOUS WAYS, MOST COLLECTIONS TODAY ARE STILL CLEARLY DEFINED AS MENSWEAR OR WOMEN’S WEAR. NEVERTHELESS, SOME DEISGNER CONSIDER BRIDGING THE MALE/FEMALE DIVIDE TO BE FUNDAMENTAL TO THEIR WORK.

The Museum at FIT: Hours Tues-Fri.-noon to 8 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Sunday, Monday, and legal holidays. Admission is FREE.♥


Polly Guerin is a former professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology where she honed her skills as a fashion historian. In addition, Polly’s features on fashion, art and the decorative arts appear in Art & Antiques magazine, and Vintage Magazine 2011 will feature “A Tale of Two Sisters,” the Hewitt sisters who founded the Cooper Hewitt museum, an excerpt from her book The Cooper-Hewitts of Old New York. Robert Erskine the map maker to General George Washington, a Revolutionary War feature will appear in the Patriot magazine 2011.

   

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

BLAME IT ON CARY GRANT

   
By Gwen Roman


Sometimes when you’re conjuring the opening for a novel, you make several attempts at getting it “right”. For TRAIL OF THE TUDOR BLUE, my debut romance novel, so deadly boring were those attempts they went straight to the trash. Still all those crafted words told me much of what I needed to know about my story – and what I didn’t know about what I needed to know. That is, those openings told me I needed to research.

TRAIL OF THE TUDOR BLUE, on the surface, is the story of a young woman who travels to Europe to reclaim a stolen necklace. The original opening scene featured main character Ardis Bellamy steering a sports car along a dark road cut into the side of a mountain. On the passenger seat beside her, a velvet bag held a priceless diamond necklace Ardis planned to get out of the country via boat. Hm. Sports car. Diamonds. Mountains. Boats. Clearly Ardis was Monte Carlo bound.

How did I know it was Monte Carlo? Blame it on Cary Grant. Blame it on James Bond. Blame it on the Travel Channel. Monaco fit my location needs perfectly. Problem was, I’d never visited the principality. And I’m research-averse. How could I gather the information I needed without spending torturous hours in the library reference stacks?

For me, the answer lay in dividing the research into small pieces I could manage in an already busy schedule. Solution: the internet during lunch. Well-crafted search phrases return a wealth of possibilities and can be executed in a matter of seconds. My first needs – maps of Monaco and the south of France, hotel information, access to the piers, ferry schedules – were straightforward enough. Official tourism sites often feature the best photographs of a location. User-enhanced travel sites such as tripadvisor.com and travelblog.org contain tips on good versus “bad” neighborhoods, where to find the best seafood, or when the yacht races are held. And travel forums can put you in touch with world wanderers and knowledgeable residents alike. Ask your questions; folks love to talk about things they know!

One caveat: Don’t be afraid to gloss over truth. While writing TUDOR BLUE, I was fortunate to have a sister travel to the south of France and visit Monte Carlo. Plus, she creates made-to-order fragrances; she’s got a great nose. So not only did she send me hotel brochures and train schedules and real estate listings for the area, she was able to tell me one thing I really wanted to know: can you smell the sea from the Monte Carlo promenade? According to my sister, you can’t. All you can smell from the promenade is dog pee.

How romantic. I opted to let that fact remain undisclosed. In TUDOR BLUE the promenade smells of the sea, the hero smells of citrus and sandalwood, and there’s always an empty slip for the boat – even if my armchair research or on-site source tells me otherwise. Because after all, it’s fiction. ♥



Gwen Roman is the pen name of long-time RWA member Jen McAndrews. Though currently working hard on her next full-length romance, she also writes mystery and young adult fiction, works full time, is obsessed by hockey, and wishes she had more time to read…or sleep!  Visit Gwen’s group blog at http:// www.pirateuniverse.blogspot.com


Read an excerpt from TRAIL OF THE TUDOR BLUE here. 

   

Monday, January 24, 2011

PAPER DOLLS

  
By Maria C. Ferrer



Years ago, I did a workshop with one of RWANYC’s Founding Mothers, the late (and great) Kathryn Hayes*. We called it “Paper Dolls” because we gave out paper cut-outs of magazine photos—women and men. From these “paper dolls” workshop participants were encouraged to develop a character. Like Mister Geppetto, they were to create a ‘real’ person.

It was amazing to see what writers focused on. For some it was the eyes; for others it was the clothes; and yet others focused on the attitude of the person in the picture. The backgrounds for these characters were as wide, as they were varied.

I still play Paper Dolls. In fact, that’s were a lot of my story ideas come from. A picture. A face.

I always start with a character. It just happens that way. For example, I was looking through last month’s Cosmopolitan magazine and saw an ad for hair coloring. In the ad, the Lady proclaimed that “she was worth it.” The slogan and the woman’s face triggered a story and my Paper Doll came to life. For the past three days, she headlines the marquee of my creative mind.

I can see her in front of her bedroom mirror. Naked. Taking stock of the merchandise and bemoaning the fact that she has hit the Big Four-Oh, and how her life seems to be heading south – her age, her sex life, her curls, but worse of all, her boobs. Her boobs facing south really get to her. Can't you just see her? The beauty, the grace, the frustration.

But my Paper Doll has spine. She is going to think positive. There has to be something positive about turning 40. Right? 40 is the new 30, right? (“Who said that? Is it true?!”)

So she’s thinking positive. Great things about turning 40:

• Closer to menopause and no more cramping. (“Woo hoo.”)

• The shutting down of the baby machine. (“One was more than enough, Thank You.”) [She made that clear as I was typing this post!]

• Closer to retirement. (“It won’t be much, thanks to those damn politicians, but, hey, every penny counts!”)

• Perfect age to become a cougar. (“Hmm!”)


And so the story begins.

How do you start your stories—with a character or a scene or an emotion? Let us know.♥



Maria Ferrer enjoys playing Paper Dolls and What-if? Visit her at http://www.4horsewomen.blogspot.com/ and at http://www.latinabookclub.com/.


*Kathryn Hayes was a Founding Mother of the RWA New York City Chapter.  She sold her writings to numerous publications, and wrote children books under the name of Kathyn Hitte.  Kathryn also mentored many a Chapter Member since 1989 until her death.  RWANYC’s annual contest carries her name—Kathryn Hayes Love and Laughter Contest.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Bwahahahaha! Creating Villains: Devious, Dastardly & Demonic

Conflict. It’s what drives your story. And who’s behind the wheel of the conflict-mobile? The Villain. The Adversary. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is creating villains/adversaries that are interesting, believable and, most importantly, that offer a challenge serious enough to engender uncertainty that your heroic team can, indeed, be victorious in the (HEA) end. Your villain has to fit the story. Your villain has to fit the genre. Some genres – thrillers, and romantic suspense and dark fantasy – permit the creation of the most blood-curdling and fiendish of antagonists. Romantic comedy will have an adversary – but it will most likely be a villain of the Dabney Coleman sort (but the triumph over his sleazy boss character by the 3 ladies in “9 to 5” was just as cheer-worthy as was Harry Potter’s over Lord Voldemort). Your “villain” can be man, woman, child, even a creature like Cujo or the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Or it can be a force beyond human-kind: A plague, a rogue wave, an asteroid hurtling towards Earth or a runaway train. Man against nature has always been a theme of literature and works beautifully in romance fiction as well. Most commonly, of course, are villains in the form of a being set against our heroic pair. What makes a great villain? Well, he can’t be too weak. If we don’t believe that the hero is genuinely challenged, even more, possibly incapable of vanquishing the baddie, the entire fictional house of cards falls down. Whether it is the suspense of escaping the clutches of a murderous madman, where the suspense and tension is of the life and death variety, or keeping your reader on the edge of their seat as they wait to find out if the unscrupulous business competitor will mean the death of the heroine’s dream, or adversely affect the quality of life of your hero, this suspense and conflict drives your story forward. Have you ever read a book where you just didn’t care? It was so obvious that the hero would prevail because the villain was too stupid, too weak, or too ineffectual to be a serious adversary? Your hero is a larger-than-life fella, and your adversary needs to be, too. (This goes for your heroine, too!) Like your protagonists, your villain must have internal and external conflict. Goals, desires, dreams and powerful motivation. Because he is going to break all the rules, abandon any ethical considerations and in many stories, kill to achieve what he wants. The expression, “any means to an end” sums up your villain. He must be intriguing to the reader. As the hero and heroine foster loyalty in the reader, so must the villain foster loathing, dislike, distrust, anger, fear. Yet we must be involved in the cat and mouse game, and cheering at the end. The fun part of creating a villain? You are free to bestow upon him all those things you CANNOT have in a hero or heroine. All the negative qualities, the quirks, personality disorders and dastardly impulses. Your villain can be mean, greedy, ugly, smelly and have foot fungus. Extreme works great with villains, where it might be cartoonish with heroes. Pick one from column A and one from column B and have a great time creating a character that your readers will love to hate. He may have many talents, but he’s still inferior to the hero (or heroine). He may have money, power, minions, weapons – but he will be overcome by the heroine’s innate goodness; by the hero’s loyalty, courage, and compassion. By the couple’s dedication, true love and teamwork. THAT is what will vanquish him. THOSE qualities are the ones that will lead to his downfall, regardless of his other advantages. There is one area of argument about villains and adversaries. Personally, I subscribe to the badder, the better in my villains. I love cheering as they crash and burn. For me it ups the sense of good triumphing over evil, of justice prevailing. But some folks say that even the darkest villain should have a sympathetic aspect. Something positive. Like Hitler loved dogs, they say it makes the villain more human and believable. Of course, this will also be dependent upon your plot and how you want the battle to impact your heroic pair. A serial killer who was ferociously abused as a child – how will your hero feel after he’s killed the killer? Will the heroine feel pity at the demise of her tormentor? It all depends on the journey you have planned for your hero and heroine. Last but not least – relationship. The big “R” applies not just to the hero and heroine, but their relationship (whether the adversary has set his sights on one, the other, or both) with this adversary. It must be evolved, explained, portrayed with equal focus. Bonds, ties, motivations, goals, external conflicts, internal conflicts – all need to be explored with the same intensity so that the battle of hearts and minds that you are setting forth unfolds in all its complexity and richness and immediacy for your readers. Who is your favorite villain? What books have you read that kept you on the edge of your seat until the curtain came down? What adversary have you created that made your story tick? (Note that I use the term villain to encompass all classes of adversaries, from the psycho serial killer to the cold-hearted business competitor. Bloodshed, or no, they are the foil of our heroes, the heroines or couples. He [she, or it] is the challenger that they must battle, and best, at the culmination of your novel.)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

BITS & PIECES: LISBETH ENG


by F. Solomon


It was interesting to interview my friend and fellow Horsewoman Lisbeth Eng, right after we had both given presentations at the last RWANYC chapter meeting. Lis was a pro, after all, she has been in the spotlight with her acclaimed new romance In The Arms of the Enemy, where she shows off her skills in Italian and German. She will tell you in a second that she is not fluent in either language but uses both, with her love for research and history exploit, to create the world in her romance novel. She was on an ambitious blog tour and has an upcoming date, where she will speak about her novel at the Deutsches Haus.

Lis is the perfect combination of hardcore historian and editor, as well as softcore goofball. Warm and engaging, her conversation about opera sparked my interest before the season; her ken of the subject mesmerizing. Yet she can poke fun at herself easily if the occasion arises; yet aside from her delightful sense of humor there is nothing laughable about her. She dreamed of publishing her first novel and now she has.  It was amazing to sit with a good friend and find out things about her I did not know! I am sure you have been following Lis' book appearances and blogs, continue to follow her here for some interesting bits and pieces...


Two Italian professors walk into a classroom...and I was in love with one of them. I was not sure whether to consider it a crush or true love, but then I came across the term "unrequited love." I accepted the fact that it can still be love, even when it is not reciprocated. Whether he was aware of my feelings or not, I will never know. The other professor was a bit older, probably in his 50s or 60s. He lived in Italy as an adult during WWII, and told us stories about the Italian Resistance, which years later inspired my WWII romance novel. We used to sing songs about the Resistance in the Italian Club (of which I was "presidentessa"). The first professor was the club's faculty advisor and several other female students had crushes on him, too. He was very charming. I was attracted to older men. My late husband was 12 years older than me.

I learned almost all of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas; they involve a lot of unrequited love. They are light operas and are different from grand operas, such as La Boheme, which usually end in tragedy. Light opera is what it sounds like. Lighter in theme and, like a romance novel, the female and male leads end up HEA.

I participated in a foreign studies program sponsored by my college and spent one summer in Italy. I could speak passable Italian at that point. I enjoyed sitting in the piazza eating a gelato and watching the people go by. Decades later, that ended up in my novel.

My love of opera drew me to study Italian and it became one of my minors, along with French. My major was English. In college, I took things I thought were interesting and fun. I did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up, and sometimes I still ask that. I took sign language and would practice with a deaf student who was an art major.

I met my husband Kenny at a singles group, which happened to meet at my church in Staten Island. I was 26 and I was one of the younger people in the group. My father attended and he was in his 70s. Kenny was not a member of the church but was one of the leaders of the group, along with my father. The meeting would start with a "rap session," and as the leader, Kenny would ask open-ended questions. This was followed by a "wine and cheese" session where people could mingle. Well, it turned out Kenny was interested in me and we talked at lot during the "wine and cheese." Then he asked if I knew Arthur, and I said, yes, he is my father. (I figured if my father knew him he was probably "safe.") Kenny gave me a ride home that night and the rest is history.

When I lived in Staten Island, I attended the Unitarian Church with my father. Now, I live in Manhattan and have recently become a member of The New York Society for Ethical Culture. Both are very different from traditional religions. We feel that it is up to the individual to decide whether to believe in God or not. The important thing is to be a good person and to try to make the world a better place.

I was inspired to volunteer for Amnesty International by my father, who was a "freedom writer" for them back in the 1970s and 80s. They write letters and petitions on behalf of political prisoners or "prisoners of conscience." Amnesty has helped many, many people all over the world.

For years, I had fantasies about getting my book published, with a beautiful cover, and having a book launch party to celebrate with all my friends. For my day job, I was assigned to write an "Operations and Procedures Manual". Scenes strike me at odd moments, such as when I am walking to work or in the shower. I decided to write a page in the style of a romance novel for the manual, just as a joke to share at my book party. It was a scene between an account executive and his assistant regarding a client who had died. In the romance version, I included quotes like, "Oh my heavens, is he really dead??!! But how do you know? And how do you know she is really the widow?" I had been given permission to use space at my office for tmy book party and I read that scene, when people from my company showed up. There were a few chuckles. It was fun. It was my celebration. I had really written a novel and it had been published. Sometimes, that is still mind boggling to me.

I love to travel. I especially like Europe, because the countries are democratic and the people have similar values to ours. In 2002, my husband and I went to Italy. We included Verona in the trip because I wanted to get a sense of the city since my book takes place there. The reason my book takes place there is that during WWII, the occupying German army was headquartered in Verona. "Romeo and Juliet" takes place in Verona too, but the romantic connection is pure coincidence. We also went to Venice. I wanted so badly to have a gondola ride, and insisted on a gondolier with a stripped shirt and straw hat, the traditional costume. I spoke to him in Italian but said, "si, si" a lot because I didn't understand all that he was saying. He explained what they had to learn to become gondoliers. Someday, I'd love to go to Oktoberfest in Munich. (I have visited Munich but not for that.) I've also thought about going to Times Square for New Year's Eve, but only if I can stay in a nice warm hotel overlooking the crowd. I wouldn't want to be outside in the cold!

To celebrate the millennium in 1999, my husband and I went to Charleston, SC, not quite as exciting as New York, but still a cosmopolitan city. I had been searching for something special to do for that occasion and found a very stylish hotel in SC that had a millennium package. It sounded fancy and fun. I bought a dress that was black velvet and tulle with sequins and a matching crushed velvet jacket. When I showed it to my husband, we both realized he was going to need a tuxedo to match my elegant attire. As it turned out, it was a black tie affair so we fit right in.

Generally I do not like to shop, though I do like window shopping if I am a tourist. I do not own a lot of shoes, and I go for the comfortable ones. When I was younger I would force my feet into pointy shoes a size too small.

I hate to waste things. For ecological reasons I always recycle; I even reuse a paper plate. I took home the extra napkins from our Starbucks table. I ask cashiers not to give me a plastic bag when I go shopping, if I can fit the item in my purse.

I do not hate anyone, though I might hate what they do. Perhaps I am being naive, but I don't want to abandon my humanism. Though I do realize there are people who are as close to being totally evil as one can be, like Hitler or Stalin.

I am half German, and I had always thought about studying the language, and became even more interested in it while I was writing my book. My book involves Germans and Italians, and I read many memoirs by German soldiers for research. Since I had studied Italian, I could add a few phrases, and decided I wanted to do the same with German, to add a little "favor" to my novel. I took some classes and found it a very difficult language. Word order is very important. And unlike French and Italian, where two genders are enough, German has three -- masculine, feminine and neuter. Strangely, words like "das Mädchen" (the girl) is neuter, not feminine as you would expect. There is a German expression that I do not like: "Kinder, Küche, Kirche" (children, kitchen, church) because it implies to the "proper" place for women. It seems very old-fashioned and sexist to me. However I do like "Schwarzwälder Kirschetorte" (Black Forest cake) both to eat and to say!

I listen to classical music more than anything else. I love Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The 4th movement includes a choral section, which is rare in a symphony. The words are based on a poem by Schiller, "Ode to Joy," which in German is "An der Freude". It is about joy, and the music and words make my heart soar!

   
  

Thursday, January 13, 2011

OUR SOCIAL NETWORK....


by RWANYC Social Networking Coordinator
F. Solomon


...turns 1 today! I have had the extreme pleasure of being the Social Networking Coordinator for one year now, and it has been a delight. As you know my mantra over the chapter loop and in general is that it is all about community, and it really is.

Despite all of the Oscar buzz, I did not see "The Social Network," but I live it every day on Twitter and Facebook. From those who are clueless to what the two social networks do, to those who are savvier than me, I learn so much being on the sites. I personally joined RWANYC because I wanted a network of people who were interested in the same things as me-- writing like me, romance like me and it was even nicer that the group was local so New Yorkers like me.

Tweets and posts, followers and friends alike from all over the world have provided me and us as a chapter with an even broader stage than I could ever have imagined--bigger than New York City. Romance is universal, in all of its genres and forms, whether it be a great new book that has been published or a comment that someone is thinking about love, it is everywhere. It is a world that I love to dwell in, a world that I am happy to contribute to and to give all of you every day. The things that I find out about my chapter mates on Facebook and Twitter, who I have not seen in maybe awhile, or just fun quirky things bring a smile to my face.

In our next year, I want to have even more tweets and posts than I had this year. It is all about what you give me and what you want me to put out there. I dare say the NYC Chapter is one of the most amazing, between our stars and rising stars, I almost cannot keep up! I want you to force me to work even harder. Tell me everything that is going on, all your joys and sorrows, whatever clever romantic stories, news articles or quotes you acquire. Your side endeavors, tell me so I can put it out there. The idea is to be social and to strengthen the Romance Community -- it deserves it.

I am closing my eyes and making a wish:

Happy Birthday, RWANYC-Twitter  (http://twitter.com/rwanyc)  and  RWANYC-Facebook  (http://www.facebook.com/rwanyc).

     
 
(If you haven't already done so, Friend RWANYC on Facebook and Follow RWANYC on Twitter.)


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

IT HURTS TO SAY THIS . . .

   
by Margaret Birth



I was a young wife of twenty-six when it began. At first I thought I’d strained a muscle, but when the pain didn’t resolve itself, I began to worry. The flesh around my joints started to swell, and the pain that I’d once imagined as a strain in one muscle began to travel to different muscles, and to feel far worse than a simple strain. There were times I could sit stationary and watch my muscles twitch, in a spasm. There were other times I could barely walk, or hold a pen, because the pain was so severe and I felt so stiff.

For five years, I traveled from doctor to doctor, and allowed test after test in the hope that I could receive a definitive diagnosis. The good news—I had fibromyalgia, which was not disfiguring or deadly. The bad news—I was going to have it for the rest of my life.

Through all that, one of the things I have needed to do was to develop an attitude of mind-over-matter (as I’ve heard others express it, “If I don’t mind about it, then it doesn’t matter”); this has required my developing a new way of thinking about how I do what I want to do in life—including my writing.

There are lots of people out there who casually remark, “You know, I’d really like to write a book someday,” or, “Yeah, I thought maybe the next time I had a week off I’d write a romance novel, send it off, and make some extra money.” Uh-huh, I’ll bet you’ve heard them too. But those of us who do desire to be full-time writers because we love writing tend to be driven folks—self-motivated, high-achieving types. That’s me.

Even as I sit here, seventeen years after finally receiving my diagnosis of fibromyalgia, I’m not only drafting this blog entry, but I’m also simultaneously drafting two mystery novels (one a sequel to a mystery novel that I’ve already submitted for publication), editing one of my older romance novels to hopefully submit to another publisher, submitting old short stories and poems for publication while I continue to write new ones and submit those too, and proofreading another author’s manuscript for a publisher for which I freelance. Like the people who’d “really like to write a book someday,” I still haven’t achieved my goal of publishing a novel; but I have the drive—I’ve written the poems, the short stories, the articles, and even the comic books and the novels—and I’m still writing.

I figure, whether we battle physical pain and ills, or procrastination, or busy family and work schedules, most of us freelance writers could easily find at least one or two excellent excuses for not sitting down to write. Pursuing a writing career while suffering from fibromyalgia has taught me an important lesson, though: whether I hurt, or feel tired, or feel stressed, I can never be truly happy if I let any of those excuses stop me from doing what I want to do—because in my heart and in my soul, I am a writer…and writers write.♥



Margaret Birth is a Christian writer who has been widely published in short fiction, short nonfiction, and poetry, both in the U.S. and abroad; in addition to working as a freelance writer, she's spent over a decade freelancing for multiple publishers as a manuscript reader, proofreader, and copy editor.

Monday, January 10, 2011

WRITING TIPS FOR ASPIRING CHILDREN BOOK WRITERS

   
By author Mayra Calvani


You don’t have to have kids to become a children’s author, though that’s the way it happens with many writers. However, you must have an affinity with kids and be able to go to their level and understand their fears and motivations. For those of you interested, here are some writing tips.

First of all, study the craft. Just being a mom or a grandma doesn’t qualify you to be a children’s writer. There are two books I’d strongly recommend: WRITING PICTURE BOOKS, by Ann Whitford Paul, and PICTURE WRITING, by Anastasia Suen. Keep them on your desk and analyze them regularly.

Another thing you can do, if you’re not familiar with the genre, is take a class or an online workshop. A good one is: http://www.asuen.com/workshops/w.pb.shtml. Or you could enroll at an online school such as the Institute of Children’s Literature.

Then, you have to read and write regularly. Make a plan and stick to it. Writing once in a while won’t do it. You need to keep improving your craft and the only way to do that is with practice.

Join a critique group that specializes in children’s writing. We writers are our own worst critics, so we need that pair of objective eyes.

When your story is the best it can possibly be, start submitting it. Get a copy of BOOK MARKETS FOR CHILDREN’S WRITERS and make a submission schedule. Submitting only once a month is a drop in the bucket. I’d recommend submitting several times a month. I usually submit in batches of 10 or 20 at a time.

If you’re serious about becoming a children’s writer, join the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators at http://www.scbwi.org. You can also join a yahoo group called Childrens-Writers. You can interact with other children’s writers, share information and resources, and ask questions about the industry and all aspects of writing for children.

RE AGENTS: Children’s authors don’t need an agent to get published. There are plenty of mid-size and small presses that consider unagented authors. However, if you want to be considered by the large New York publishers, you need an agent because most editors from big houses won’t even consider queries unless they come from an agent. So it really depends on what your goals are. If you have big goals, then you should search for an agent first.♥



Mayra Calvani is a wife and mother of an 8-year old author. She is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction for children and adults, who just signed on with Mansion Street Literary Management. Mayra is also a reviewer for The New York Journal of Books and co-editor of Voice in the Dark ezine. She’s had over 300 reviews, interviews, stories, and articles published in print and online. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and the Children's Writer's Coaching Club.

Visit Mayra’s website at http://www.mayrassecretbookcase.com/.

Visit her blog at http://www.mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com/.

For a full length interview with Mayra, visit The Latina Book Club.

Friday, January 7, 2011

BREAKING TRADITION

   
By Karen Sharpe



My grandparents were from the south and every New Year’s Eve there was traditional dishes of some sort of pork, black-eyed peas or hoppin’ john, collard or turnip greens and cracklin’ cornbread. I recall my grandmother saying the peas were for luck, the greens for money and the pork was for prosperity. Not sure what the cornbread was for, but it made the rest of the meal rather tasty! Of course everything was made from scratch; and I would do my part by helping her pick the greens. Back then, turnips actually came with the greens attached. My grandfather, who was from South Carolina, used to say the reason why they ate pig feet was so we could always move (or point) forward in the new year. My grandmother, from Arkansas would agree somewhat with that, but would say if we were eating pig ears or hog jowls that was because the pig pushes forward with its snout and rarely does this with his ears back. When I would ask why don’t we eat any other kind of meat for New Years, they would give me reasons that made me glad I was a native New Yorker. Since chickens and other fowl scratch the ground backward and had feathers, eating birds could mean your own feathers would be ruffled and would wind up going backward through the year. Eating beef would be wrong because cattle stand still a lot and that would make things “tough” for the year. What about lobster I would ask … no good – they walk backwards too. Damn! Oh well, I thought, just pass the hot sauce and I’m good to go.

Some of the New Year traditions are borrowed from other countries and have made it into American culture. You’re not supposed to sweep on New Year’s Day because you would sweep out all of your good luck. You are not supposed to carry anything out of the home – not even the garbage – unless you have already brought something in. Bad luck to wash clothes or sew on New Year’s Day because if you do, you’ll be doing the same for a dead person before the year is out. Most importantly, what you are doing on the first day (I’ve also heard at the stroke of midnight), will affect your fate or set the pattern for the other 364 days.

In some traditions, the entire house must be clean on New Year’s Eve, which includes laundry. I have even heard that it’s bad luck to leave the Christmas tree up after New Year’s Eve. At the stroke of midnight, you should also make a whole lot of noise to drive out the evil spirits from your home – they hate noise. One should also make amends with those you’ve had cross words with, which makes for a clean start to the new year. Paying off the bills prior to New Year’s Day so the household would not be in debt seems to be a prevalent tradition in many countries. Cupboards are supposed be stocked so that will be the way they should stay for the rest of the year. To kiss loved ones at midnight ensures warmth and close ties for the next 12 months. Supposedly, if you don’t kiss your significant others, that means you will set the stage for the “opposite of warmth” in your year.

Superstition also holds that the first person who sets foot into your home after the stroke of midnight should be a dark-haired man, preferably tall and good-looking, bearing some small gift. I read an old English superstition that goes even further – blond or redheaded men bring bad luck – and if the first footer is female, shoo her away, even if you have to aim a gun at her, just don’t let her in before a dark man crosses your threshold first. I howled with laughter after reading that pearl of wisdom.

On snopes.com, I read something that would pertain to me as a single person. One who lives alone should place a few lucky items in a basket that has a string attached to it, to be placed outside the door before midnight. After midnight, the solo celebrant “hauls in” his/her catch, which has to be pulled in by the string over the door jamb rather than picked up by hand. Because of the sloppy condition of the city and neighborhood roads, I’m not venturing anywhere this New Year’s Eve. I also have a bad cold, so no one’s getting kissed – I don’t want anyone to get what I have. Tonight I’m having top sirloin marinated in whiskey barbeque sauce, red peppers sautéed with broccoli and corn, with couscous. No champagne will I be drinking this year; just a couple of shots of tequila, in celebration of making it to another year. I am not putting out any baskets to haul in my catch or cleaning my apartment. I will make a few alterations regarding that New Year’s traditional meal. I’m having pulled pork, green salad with chick peas, au gratin potatoes after snacking on snow crab claws. What the hell, crabs walk sideways; which is better than backwards.

As far as what will I be doing on New Year’s Day that will affect my fate for the rest of the year? Writing! However, the laundry can most definitely wait until January 2nd. And if the tall, good looking “first footer” crosses my threshold (He better have my Christmas present with his bald-headed crazy self!), we’re going out to eat! Happy New Year!♥



Karen P. Sharpe has been an astrologer for over three decades. She majored in cartooning and animation, which she uses today in her decorative painting business. Karen worked for years in the typography industry, as a proofreader and a quality control specialist. She wrote nonfiction articles for several weekly NYC newspapers, and monthly astrology columns for CableView Magazine, Harlem News Group and Street News. Karen’s NaNoWriMo novel is available on Amazon under her pen name, Sydelle Houston, and she is currently working on a collection of erotic short stories called, THE HOT PAGES.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

OUTBOUND TO WONDERLAND

by F. Solomon

Not unlike the beginning of Anna Karenina, all cities are the same or maybe just the people in them are the same, as they would be if you placed them anywhere else.

Take me for instance, I was in Boston this week and I am a native New Yorker if ever there was one. While Boston looks nothing like New York City, it has the same types of things that I would have seen or been drawn to in New York. I like to travel to other cities, I think it is important to leave my city--albeit the capital of the world--to appreciate it all the more and to gain perspective about life and thus writing. I was a New York City born writer in Boston, looking for inspiration and there was a lot of it.

I went down into the "T" and on the platform, and I realized I was on the platform outbound to Wonderland. Call me Alice. Like in any other city on the streets I got lingering looks from men, saw people I would have avoided if I was in New York--talking to themselves and no cell phone in sight--and shivered because it was cold, as it would have been in New York; the temperature is actually colder in New York. Still, I went to the wharf and got a lovely picture of the water and you could have sworn it was a summer day.

Naturally I was compelled to go into every book store I passed.  I had to run out of Trident Booksellers with my life because I was picking up all the discounted books like a mad person. I spent more time than I needed to at Hotel Chocolat. It's funny, my trip to Boston was so that I could go to the Museum of Fine Arts but people kept telling me about the chocolate and cookies, specifically at The Boston Chipyard, from which I waited for fresh baked banana chocolate chip cookies, and I still have spoils....

My trusty iPod Touch, filled with Boston apps, helped me to plan the itinerary for my trip, but an app can not replace the helpfulness of people when you ask them how to get around. My waiter handled my iPod like a pro as he navigated the train map in one of the apps. A gentleman working in the T took me up out of the train station to show me which direction to walk to with that famous Bostonian accent out of Wonderland....

...now back again.  Once I hit New York, I was extremely happy to return to. There is no place like home.  Call me Dorothy. I am happy that home is New York, which I think it is the best city in the entire world. I see it in every other city like a lover that I am missing.  But it will not be my last trip to Boston by a long shot. I almost missed my train home to go into Espresso Royale Caffe to buy a dirty thai tea latte.  Got inspired to write the first paragraph of my new story in a cab heading to South Station ,heading home and of course, it is a romance....


Photograph by F. Solomon

Monday, January 3, 2011

FINDING YOUR MUSE DURING A BLIZZARD

By Karen Cino



We just got over one of the worst blizzards in years. I don’t know about you, but the streets of Staten Island were left behind. While I sit here, surfing around the internet, I decided it was time to use the blizzard as a stepping stone in getting back on track with my writing.

Now I know that I’m not alone with the following story. I know many of you are as guilty as I, blaming the Holidays for the lack of writing. My excuses not to write—blaming it on the Christmas preparations, including shopping and baking the past few weeks—are now over. I made a promise to myself that I would continue editing my completed manuscript and start plotting out something new. And I did. I came home Christmas Night with a whole new perspective. I pulled out my red binder, actually opened it up and began working on a few pages. I was on a roll. Then, the Blizzard of 2010 came into play. Aw…an excuse not to do work again.

I closed the binder, put on layers of clothes and played with my screen door until I got outside. Hmm, for some reason, I didn’t feel like being outside and tackling the snow. I wanted to be upstairs, sitting in my chair in a warm house with my shorts and tank top on. For some apparent reason my characters were calling me.

Quickly, I made my way back into the house. I was soaked up to my waist after walking through snowdrifts. After soaking in a hot bath—defrosting not only my body, but my mind—I was ready to settle down and not let anything distract me from my writing again.

I set the scene.  I removed my red binder from my tote bag, grabbed a pen and got myself comfortable and began. Funny thing, once I started, the time flew by and I was able to do revisions on two chapters. (And be satisfied with the changes.)

Sometimes it takes the smallest distraction to keep us from our writing, and sometimes it takes a blizzard and the clean up event afterwards, to keep us focused on our writing. This time, I’d rather do those dreaded revisions than shovel thirty inches of snow.♥



Karen Cino is President of the RWA New York City Chapter. She keeps her muse alive by walking every morning down at the South Beach Boardwalk in Staten Island (but not during a blizzard). Currently, she is shopping for a home for her novels, ROSES and MYSTICAL WONDERS, and is working on her next novel.

Sunday, January 2, 2011